With only three days remaining until the Iranian Green Movement’s 22 Bahman rally (this is the 11th of February coinciding with the victory of the 1979 revolution), a commander of the Islamic Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) explained what he referred to as “details of the plan to assassinate Mohammad Khatami and the martyrdom conspiracy,” raising concerns in political circles about the possibility of the assassination of one of the Green Movement’s leaders in the coming days.

Fars news agency, which is closely affiliated with the IRGC, published the remarks of this IRGC commander, quoting him as having said that the terrorist plans were scheduled to be carried out by the “Monafeghin” last year and during Mohammad Khatami’s visit to Ahwaz in February of 2008.  [The government and many Iranians refer to the MKO People’s Mojaheddin opposition group, as the Monafeghin, which literally means the ‘hypocrites.’]

According to the commander, the People’s Mojaheddin group planned to plant a bomb in the airplane carrying the former president to the Khuzistan provinces.  

In another part of his speech, however, he referred to the bombers as “friends” of Mohamad Khatami.  

“Mohammad Khatami’s assassination” plot was discussed in February last year by the hardline Kayhan daily in an editorial penned by the supreme leader’s representative at the daily.  Writing the editorial while Mohammad Khatami was still a presidential contender, Hossein Shariatmadari made a comparison between Mohammad Khatami and Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, noting, “The goal of hardliners from participating in the election is to increase the costs to the regime, not benefiting the electoral process and accepting its results.”

He added, “When they reach a dead-end in one scenario, do they not follow another?  The Americans tried in Pakistan first to bring to power Bhutto through propaganda and diplomatic efforts in order to plunder Pakistan with her help; but when they realized that her party could not win the majority [of votes] under any circumstances they resorted to another scenario.  That is a lesson.  Some of the reformists have a clear background (!) in this regard.”  

A journalist tells Rooz about the connection between the IRGC commander’s recent remarks and the infamous Kayhan editorial: “It seems like this IRGC commander has detailed a scenario that is consistent with that of Kayhan daily, both in terms of timeline and tone, but not consistent with the pre-election developments.”

He added, “Placing the People’s Mojaheddin and the green movement next to one another is one of Kayhan daily’s major strategies, but according to the IRGC commander’s timeline, meaning February 2008, the two movements cannot be linked because at that time neither the Green Movement existed nor any source other than Kayhan had reported the possibility of Khatami’s assassination.”  

It must be noted that during the July 8 protests at Hafte Tir square in Tehran, plain clothed agents affiliated with the Basij had attacked Mehdi Karoubi.